During regular driving, airbags are stored in the steering wheel, dashboard, etc., and in a vehicle collision, a sensor detects the impact and generates high-pressure gas, with which the airbag is inflated instantaneously. The inflated airbag prevents occupants from hitting the steering wheel etc.
Therefore, the fabrics used for airbags are required to, first, have high air tightness to minimize gas leakage, second, have appropriate strength, and third, be able to be folded compactly so as to be stored in a small limited space in a vehicle as described above. A fourth requirement is that the fabrics be highly responsive and light so that the bag is inflated quickly when necessary.
Under such circumstances, coated fabrics conventionally used for airbags are fabrics in which an elastomer, such as chloroprene, chlorosulfonated olefin, and silicone, is stacked onto one surface of a plain-weave fabric formed of nylon 66 filament yarn (dtex: 400 to 1100).
Patent Literature (PTL) 1 discloses a fabric for airbags in which a silicone rubber composition obtained by incorporating a thermoplastic resin powder into silicone rubber is coated onto a nylon 66 woven fabric. In PTL 1, the thermoplastic resin powder is used by mixing with silicone rubber so that the thermoplastic resin powder is present in the silicone rubber in a buried state. Further, in PTL 1, the thermoplastic resin powder is incorporated for the purpose of reducing the surface adhesiveness of the silicone rubber and improving the texture.